Quips and quotes overheard during alumni dance reunion rehearsals

A visitor on the first floor of Chase Hall heard muffled footfalls coming from somewhere on the second floor. Climbing the stairs, we also heard intermittent music — Benny Goodman’s “Swingtime in the Rockies” — and lots of voices.

“Jump, and pose, and five, six, seven, eight.”

“This pose is so weird.”

“Receivers to the outside.”

Across campus early Saturday afternoon, from the Plavin Studio in Merrill Gym to Chase and Pettigrew halls, nine cohorts of dance alums, loosely grouped by class years, set about choreographing short dances. That evening they performed their new pieces and others during a tribute concert in Schaeffer Theatre honoring the memory of Leonard Plavin, husband of Marcy Plavin, founder of the Bates dance company. (See a video clip of rehearsals elsewhere on campus.)

To inspire the choreography, each group had in hand a few historical dance photos — photos taken by Leonard Plavin over more than four decades — which were to be projected during the dances that evening.